Chinese solo sailor

The first Chinese sailor to sail single handed around the world alone, Guo Chuan has gone missing while trying to break the record for crossing the Pacific alone.

He was a few days into a voyage from San Francisco to Shanghai sailing alone on a large transoceanic trimaran.

The BBC reports that the US Coast Guard is now searching waters off Hawaii, where his boat was spotted without him onboard.

In an unofficial report a few hours ago, Guo’s shore team received updates from Marine Rescue Cordination Centre the crew of USS Mankin Island has found and boarded the trimaran but did not find Guo. They collected all Guo’s belongings aboard for his family. They lowered the mainsail around 11.50am. Search and rescue is continuing.

Mr Guo’s support team had lost contact with him at about 07:00 GMT on Tuesday, says the BBC.

The sailor, who was the first Chinese person to sail solo around the world, left San Francisco on 18 October with the aim of reaching Shanghai within 20 days.